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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Shadow Hills Winner and Review

She won the contest on Anastasia's release day and will be receiving an autographed Shadow Hills bookmark soon! Thanks to all who entered! Now on to the review...

Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Pages: Hardback, 400 pages

Publisher: EgmontUSA (July 13, 2010)

His love captivated her... his secrets might kill her.

Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.

After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.

But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town…might cost her life.

This book has been on my shelf for a while calling my name... and boy am I glad I listened! I fell in love with the cover of this one because it is so simple yet so intriguing that it makes you want to read it. Anastasia has done an amazing job with her debut novel and I am hoping and praying that she will write this as a series!! (hint, hint)

The fresh writing, believable characters, great plot, and mysterious power make this read one of my new favorites. I found myself having to remember that Phe and Zach are simply teenagers because they are old souls. I love that they are written like this because it was done well. You could believe that they were old souls because of their actions, experiences, and reactions to things. They were very well written and made the story what it is… GREAT. There were so many great things about this book but one of my favorites was the obsession Phe had with music! I got some great bands out of this book!! Here is a picture from my notebook…

There was drama all throughout this and it built on top of all of the little sub plots that left you wondering how it was all going to come together (I have a ton of questions all in my notebook this time and crazy scribbles beside themJ). I found myself laughing at some of the characters, being scared with others, and ready to kick butt with Zach and Phe! Overall, this was a very well written, intriguing novel that I did not want to put down (I bathed the kids with one hand and read with the other)! Visit Anastasia here to learn more about her and her awesome red hair!!